A Red Haired Wonder
by eclipsed heart
Summary: Why does everyone hate Lissa? Is she really that dreadful? Or just misunderstood? An object of jealousy? Find out what was in that red head when she fell for the drool-worthy new guy. ONESHOT.


A Red-Haired Wonder

Summary: Why does everyone hate Lissa? Is she really that dreadful? Or just misunderstood? Find out what was in that red head when she fell for the drool-worthy new guy.

Disclaimer: Much of the dialogue in this oneshot is taken directly from _School's Out--Forever_, including Lissa and Nick's first conversation, and Max, Lissa, and Nick's conversation. I do not own it. (Note: Nick is Fang.)

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Lissa was walking toward her locker when she overheard the news: there were six new kids, all claiming to be siblings, had arrived at the school. Three of them were in the ninth grade with her, two of them guys. She heard a pair of seventh graders gushing over their looks, while the guys in her grade level talked about the new girl.

The hall went silent as two kids, who looked related, walked past. Lissa assumed they were the younger siblings of the new kids she'd heard everybody talking about. She made a big show of rolling her eyes. She couldn't understand why kids always talked _about_ new kids but took their sweet time before getting around to actually talking _to_ them.

For a moment, Lissa could perfectly picture her first day at this school, scarcely a year ago. She remembered the silence that would precede her when she would suddenly come upon a room or hallway when she walked by. It was weeks before everyone got over the concept of newness and she was actually able to make some friends.

She decided then and there that she wouldn't let that happen to these new kids. She would try to befriend them, at least one of them.

{[(/*\)]}

Both of the new guys were in her class. One of them, the one with the light red hair, was blind, so he and his brother had all their classes together. The other one…? Well, let's just say that Lissa decided that the seventh graders had good reason to gush and swoon.

The boy looked about fourteen, Lissa's age, and had shoulder length ink-black hair. His eyes, when she managed to get a look at them, were as dark as midnight. He was tall and well-built, but had a certain grace in his step that was had to come by.

Lissa was immediately smitten with him and nearly had a heart attack when the teacher assigned him to the empty seat beside her.

As the class wore on and was drawing to a close, Lissa got up the courage to talk to him.

"Do you know where the dictionary is?" Lissa asked him.

He looked up at her. (He looked at her!) "What?" he asked back.

"Our reference materials are over here." Lissa pointed to the books and computer by the window. "When we have free study time, you can walk around and do homework. If you need to look up stuff, the computers and other references are over here."

The boy nodded. "Oh. Okay. Thanks."

"No problem," Lissa said. She swallowed and stepped forward. "I'm Lissa. And you're Nick, right?"

Nick looked at her strangely. "Uh-huh."

"I'm glad you're in our class."

Now Nick was confused. "What? Why?"

Lissa took another step forward and smiled flirtatiously. "Why do you think?"

Nick blushed crimson. _Now_ he understood. The girl—Lissa—was flirting with him. Which must have meant that she found him attractive.

Unable to help himself, Nick smiled. And Lissa fought the urge to swoon.

What had just gotten into her? she admonished herself when the bell rang. Lissa almost never flirted, but…well, with all the hormones packed into a ninth grader's body, she bound to be attracted to someone sooner or later.

Lissa watched Nick walk to his brother and the both of them left, off to their next class.

Lissa was still standing there a minute later, dumbfounded when she realized that he had left without saying good-bye.

{[(/*\)]}

Nick and his brother were in her next class, and also her last class. Third period, fourth period, and sixth period, not to mention that they had the same lunch. Lissa was thrilled, even though she only sat by him in third period, she got to just _look_ at such incredible hotness for three-and-a-half hours a day, five days a week. Boy, had she gotten lucky.

It was a few days later, that Friday, that Lissa found herself alone with Nick for the first time. Lissa was never alone with guys; she almost never interacted with them at all. She had never had a boyfriend, never kissed anyone or been kissed, and, now that she thought about it, she had never _actually_ _liked_ a boy before.

It was kind of a scary experience.

But still, despite her experience, or lack thereof, in the field of the mystery of the male species, Lissa felt somehow felt that Nick was different. He was quiet, content with himself but not arrogant, caring toward his blind brother. He didn't act shallow, or fake, and Lissa noticed that he seemed to appreciate every second of life he had. He didn't waste his time and he took nothing for granted. It was like he had gone through some traumatic, near-death experience that had totally changed his perspective on life.

These qualities only made Lissa like Nick more, and therefore thirst for his attention.

She found him in the science room, standing all alone, looking at the posters on the wall. The particular one he was reading depicted the double helix and talked about genetics and the basis of how they work.

She cleared her throat, walking into the classroom. He turned around and looked at her, his face blank.

"Hey," she smiled.

He nodded his head at her, wondering why guys did that as a greeting. "Hi," he responded.

She came and stood by him, pretending to read along on the poster. Truthfully, her mind couldn't process the mumbo-jumbo that was splayed across the poster. Instead, she traced the design of the double helix with her eyes, thinking it looked like a winding staircase, or a really twisted ladder.

Lissa decided to start a conversation.

"Do you have a girlfriend, Nick?" It was the first question that popped into her head.

For a moment, Lissa wasn't sure he had heard her. She was about to repeat the question when it crossed her mind that he might just be thinking of an answer. It sure looked like he was thinking hard, and Lissa immediately assumed that he did indeed have a girlfriend and was trying to think of a nice way to let her down.

"It's okay, you can tell me," she pressed.

He pretended to look at her, really gazing at the wall behind her as he slowly said, "Well, I'm actually not sure."

This threw her off for a moment. Obviously, she wasn't the only girl with her sights on him.

"What do you mean? How can you not be sure whether or not you have a girlfriend?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I guess it's kind of…complicated. Like, I don't know, like, there's this girl. I guess you could say that I like her. But she's confusing the hell out of me."

Lissa brightened for a moment, hoping beyond hope that this girl might be her.

"Well what if she was to set you straight, once and for all?"

Nick rubbed his forehead. "That would be enlightening," he decided.

Lissa brushed her hair over her shoulder. This was it. She was gonna do it. Lissa planted her palms on Nick's muscular chest and gently pushed until his back was against the wall. This was it. There was no turning back. Slowly, almost hesitantly, Lissa went up on her tippy-toes and kissed Nick.

At first, he did nothing, his mouth hard and cold beneath hers. It's the shock, she conceded. He's just shocked.

After a moment, she felt him move. His hands rested themselves on her thin waist as he pulled her closer and kissed her back.

And Lissa was beaming with happiness the rest of the day.

{[(/*\)]}

The next day, there was field trip. Lissa almost immediately searched out and latched onto Nick.

"Hey, sweetie," she enthused, kissing his cheek and taking his hand.

"Hey, Lissa," he said.

"You excited for today?" she asked.

"I guess. Where exactly are we supposed to be going?"

Lissa shrugged. "Beats me. All I know is that we're getting out of school for the day and I'm not about to complain."

Later, when they arrived at the White House, which turned out to be their destination, another girl walked up to Nick.

"Excuse me," she said to Lissa. Lissa recognized her as the new girl that had all the guys drooling, including her friend's ex, Sam. Lissa knew that this meant that she probably shouldn't like this girl, whoever she was, but she had decided to make friends with the new kids. Not only was this girl one of the new kids, she also knew Nick.

"I don't see An— Ariel."

Nick looked around for this Ariel and Lissa decided to start making nice with Nick's family. Now.

"You're Nick's sister, right?" Lissa asked, smiling.

The girl looked at Lissa in a way that made Lissa think she was holding back some emotion. "Uh-huh," she said tightly.

Nick turned to his sister. "I'll go look," he said, and the two walked away together, to search for Ariel.

Lissa eyed them as they left, saw how close they were to each other. In her mind, she saw the way they had looked at each other. Then she started to wonder how exactly they were brother and sister. They were in the same grade level, the same age, and looked nothing alike. Adoption, maybe?

Whatever it was, Lissa decided that they were pretty close for your average brother and sister. Or were they actually more?

{[(/*\)]}

Lissa was sitting in third period, just after an assembly, a couple weeks after the White House field trip. She and Nick were talking. He was a great listener and Lissa loved talking to him.

That was when she heard the commotion: someone was running down the hallway, screaming nonsense. She shrugged it off, but Nick lifted his head ever-so-slightly when he heard the racket.

His dark eyes widened in alarm and Lissa knew something was wrong.

"Nicky, what is it? What's—?"

Before she could finish, before he could answer, Nick was up and moving. He grabbed his backpack and hastily shoved his notebook inside. He tucked his pencil behind his ear and whispered to Lissa, "Sorry." Then he jogged up to the teacher, handed in his assignment, and sprinted out the door, leaving the class in shock at his abrupt exit.

Lissa nearly went after him, but something told her to just sit back down. She didn't belong in Nick's world and he didn't belong in hers. The same voice also told her the sad truth: she would never see Nick again.

And she never did.

**AN: Hope you enjoyed that insightful glance into Lissa's mind. A penny for your thoughts? REVIEW!!**


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